EPA Fines Factory in Mexico Over Shipment of Toxic Waste

U.S. authorities said Tuesday they have fined a Mexican factory for improperly disposing of its hazardous wastes north of the border--the first time a Mexican business has been sanctioned for violating U.S. environmental law.

Maquiladora Chambers de Mexico, a leather belt manufacturer in Pitiquito, 75 miles south of the Arizona border in the Mexican state of Sonora, agreed to pay a $3,164 fine and train personnel in neighboring factories on waste disposal laws in the United States and Mexico.

Though the fine was small, officials at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said it was important as a first step in piercing a layer of protection that the international border has provided to polluters. Regulators in both countries fear that factories often skirt local regulations by sneaking waste across the border.

“Companies in the U.S. and Mexico are responsible for assuring the public that hazardous wastes are properly managed,” said Jeff Scott, acting head of hazardous waste for the EPA’s Western region, based in San Francisco. “No one can use the border to hide. Today marks an important step.”

Two Arizona companies agreed to pay nearly $41,000 in fines for improperly handling and storing shipments of solvents produced by the Mexican belt maker in 1997. Chambers Belt Co. of Phoenix and Joffroy Customs Broker Inc. of Nogales, both owned separately from the Mexican company, lacked licenses to handle or dispose of hazardous waste, said John Rothman, an EPA lawyer who handled the case.

All three firms cooperated with U.S. officials and do not face criminal prosecution.

Drums of flammable waste were hauled in three shipments, totaling about 13,000 pounds, into the United States at Nogales, Rothman said. U.S. Customs agents discovered one load, which was not marked as hazardous. Investigators then found that a similar shipment had been trucked to the Phoenix plant, combined with waste there and sent to the disposal site in Azusa. The customs broker unwittingly was storing a separate shipment that lacked proper markings, Rothman said. That waste also was later taken to the Azusa facility.

Arturo Arocha, a partner in the maquiladora, said the shipments were mishandled by a hired hauler. “It was an honest mistake. There was no bad intention of any type,” Arocha said.

Rothman said Mexican regulators helped U.S. officials by sharing information on the Mexican plant. Mexico did not pursue charges because the violations occurred on U.S. soil.

Shipment of hazardous waste across the border has drawn increasing scrutiny as trade between the two nations grows under the North American Free Trade Agreement. Under the law governing Mexico’s maquiladora plants, which assemble products from foreign components, waste must be returned to the country where the raw materials originated.

With some exceptions, hazardous wastes can be hauled into the United State for disposal as long as U.S. rules on licensing, labeling and transportation are followed.

About 11,000 tons of hazardous waste crossed the border from Mexico in 1997, the most recent year for which figures are available, according to EPA figures.

The two countries agreed last year to tell each other where they are building disposal sites for hazardous or radioactive waste along the border.